


Till Death Do Us Part

by AnniSephy



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gang Violence, Horror, Love Confessions, M/M, dream - Freeform, everything is ooc, living dead, they just looked a little like listed characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-10
Updated: 2016-05-10
Packaged: 2018-06-07 16:31:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6813214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnniSephy/pseuds/AnniSephy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I had this dream, and it a was real burden for me, so i put it on paper. Now it can weigh others.</p><p>Young Irish guy moving into USA in early 20th century to meet his friends. What he found is not what he wished for.<br/>Note that he has some supernatural powers. But thats not important for the story. <br/>James could but doesn't have to be Bucky. <br/>Rich could but doesn't have to be Hannibal.</p><p>I dreamed this, but it's not my fault. </p><p>Thank so much to crowlicious, shes amazing beta-reader and i love her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Till Death Do Us Part

It was just a few days ago when I got my ass to United States. It wasn´t a pleasant trip to be honest. Hundreds of people thronged in this gigantic piece of corroded metal they called ocean liner. I really wasn´t the one with good money to spend on a luxury ticket, so I shared cabin with seven other people, and I was grateful none of them were an annoying crying child. Most of them were guys like me, going to try for a new life overseas. But I probably had better luck than them. First of all I was smaller in stature so I really could get some sleep on that terrible bed in our cabin. And second, I wasn´t heading to the unknown. All my old buddies from Europe were already in there. I was getting letters from them regularly. They already started pretty good business in my new homeland and I was going to join them. It wasn´t on the legal side to be honest, but we weren´t bad guys. On the contrary. We were giving the bad guys some pretty hard times. And that was also my part in this thing. Perhaps I was small, also I wasn’t that fit or anything. But I knew how to fight. Hell, I knew how to kick ass, that’s a better way of putting it. Also I wasn’t any kind of coward. That was by the way why I ended up alone in our old district in Dublin, trying to hold together pieces of shit that my friends left behind. When things started to look pretty bad in our town, they just ran. But someone had to slow down other parties and stop them from stealing our goods. Now, when everything that was left was over the sea, I could finally join my friends.  
I wasn´t really expecting a welcome party, but I sent a letter about the time of my arrival anyway. So I was kind of surprised when I finally stood on solid ground and nobody was waiting for me. I had to spend few nights in a “hotel” by the harbor. And let me tell you, it was even worse than the cabin on that bloody ship. I wasn´t sure what to do, I didn’t know if I should wait a little longer for someone to show up or if I should just find my way through the city and try finding those bastards on my own. The truth was I was worried; last letter I got from Sean, my best friend, was short, full of promises that he´ll write me again in a better time, but that was almost two months ago. I knew something was happening, and that it couldn´t be good, but I would have never expected what was about to happen in the next few days.  
It was the fourth day after my arrival. I was sitting in a filthy irish pub right in front of the harbor when I spotted a familiar figure. Tall, skinny, with baggy clothes and hair always a little too long. It was Richard. His eyes narrowed when I stood up, happily spreading my arms in a welcoming gesture. He just waved at me, as if he wanted me to sit down. He hurried to my table and quickly sat next to me.  
“Rich..” I greeted him, “Are you alright? You are so late!”  
“Yea, I know, I’m sorry. Just, shut up okay?” He almost wasn´t paying attention to me, instead he was eyeing the pub with a suspicious look and I knew at that moment, something terrible happened.  
“Rich … Rich!” I had to elbow his ribs. “I have a room upstairs. Come.”  
When he finally looked like he heard what I said I took him by the elbow and dragged him to my room. It was a really small place. The bed was hardly fitting in there and Rich had to bend up a little as not to hit the ceiling with his head.  
“What´s happening?” I asked impatiently. But then I looked at him properly and everything that I wanted to say just left my mind. He wasn´t just skinny; he was gaunt. His clothes were filthy and I was pretty sure the dirt on his forearm was dried blood.  
“Rich?” I asked again, this time quietly, looking at him terrified. “Where is Sean?”  
“I don´t know, Will,” his voice was tired, “He’s gone.”  
I looked at him confused. He didn´t look back, not even for a second. His eyes were glued to the floor.  
“What do you mean by ‘gone’?”  
“He disappeared, it will be almost two months now. I think he’s dead.”  
“D-dead?” Well that was real nonsense, Sean couldn´t be dead. He was the toughest guy I’ve ever met. He could survive anything, he could beat anyone. “Didn´t others try finding him?”  
“Will…,” he finally looked me in the eyes, “there are no others. Three months ago … Italians came. It took them just two weeks to destroy everything we built over the last year. They killed Danny, Little Thomas and all his brothers. Then Hannah disappeared and Sean went crazy, he went looking for her but he never came back. Few days later they came for us. It was just me, James and Tim. They tore Tim apart, I saw it with my own eyes. It was just blood and mess...he was screaming so much, Will.”  
His eyes were getting foggy and he was so pale that it came to me that he could pass out any second. But I couldn´t stop him. Frankly I couldn´t even breathe. All my friends, their entire families, dead. It was a little too much and then i heard James´s name and my mind went blank. He was watching me as if he knew what I was thinking and then he went silent. But i couldn´t ask him. I wasn´t prepared to hear that James is dead. There is not enough time in the world for me to prepare for this. It was clear Rich just wasn’t going to speak, so I had to ask anyway.  
“Where’s James?” my voice came out as weak, pathetic whisper and I couldn’t care less.  
“He’s dead, Will.”  
I blinked a few times before my brain could accept the information. And then i just smiled. I had no fucking idea why was I smiling. James was dead, and I felt as if my world was shattering into pieces.  
“I’m sorry Will. I really am, he saved my life. He tried to save us both.” I felt Richard’s bony fingers on my shoulder.  
Why the hell. My smile disappeared. Why the hell did he do that?! Why by all Gods did he try to save Richard’s life?! I suddenly felt really really angry. At James, at Sean, at Italians but mostly at Rich. I probably had said some of that out loud, because Rich stepped away from me and lifted his hands defensively.  
“I didn’t ask him to, Will. Do you hear me? I didn’t ask to be alive!!” his voice carried such urgency it pulled me out of my spinning thoughts. I looked at Rich and he looked scared, watching my hands. I closed my eyes for a second and let my clenched fists slacken. Rich lowered his arms as angry red sparks stopped flying from my my loosened hands.  
We went silent again. There wasn´t anything more to say. I didn´t know what to say to this. But at least I wasn´t smiling anymore.  
After a few second, or maybe minutes I just reached into my pocket, took out the last of my money a gave it to him. I guess I said something about food but I’m not sure.. Then I just shoved him outside the door, and slammed it behind him.  
I don´t know what happened in the next few hours. I think I was crying, I’m not ashamed to admit it, hell I´m not made of stone and I loved James since he and i were kids.  
It was so many years of hiding, so many years of pointless relationships with girls who had hair similar to his or something in their smile reminded me of him. I knew for so long that I fell for him, but I never told him. I really am not a coward but how could you say something like this to your friend? I knew already that he would never love me back. He was into girls as far as I knew. Even if he wasn’t, he sure was hiding it pretty well, but I didn´t care anymore. I didn´t see him for over a year now, since he was one of the first to leave Dublin. It took me the whole year of separation to figure out that I would simply never forget him. I finally decided to tell him about my feelings.  
And now, I will never see him again.  
It was long after midnight when I was woken up by someone knocking on the door. I had to fall asleep crying because my face was a sticky mess glued to the pillow. I grunted something and in the corner of my sleepy eye I saw Rich sitting on the floor next to the door. He was muttering something but I wasn´t listening, I didn´t care. I just wanted to sleep forever.  
When I woke up again in the morning I knew that this day would be absolutely terrible. Rich was already awake, eating some old bread. He handed me half of it when he noticed I was awake. I didn´t say anything but I took it and started eating; it tasted like shit.  
“We should go,” he muttered, looking somewhat uneasy.  
“Where?” I asked simply because Rich didn´t look like a person who has a home anymore.  
“I have a place. It’s safe. I was there ever since they set our storehouse on fire. I …” He was stuttering a little.  
“Okay.” I said, because what else could I do? I couldn´t return home, I had no money and despite everything I couldn´t just abandon Rich. I had to save his ass, that was the least I could do.  
“Um, Will, I … I…” I looked at him, he stared at me nervously. “I did something. I made something for you.”  
“Okay?”  
“Its a gift. For you, I had to stay inside my shelter for two months so I had plenty of time to do it. I think … it’s … I think I’ll just show it to you.”  
He rose and took my hand.

We walked down the crowded harbor streets for ten minutes. I didn´t really know how but we ended up in some poor looking district, poorer than the harbor, poorer than anything I ever saw back home. Rich led me through a small door on the side of an old building. He unlocked the couple of other doors and then we stood in some filthy damp cellar. There was only a mattress on the floor and lots of mechanical looking scraps around. It looked like Rich was able to save some of his stuff after all.  
“That’s it,” he said, a smile tugging at his lips softly.  
“That’s disgusting,” I noted.  
“I know …” he began taking out stuff from some big wooden box. “I think you should sit now.”  
I looked around once again and noticed a small door on the opposite side of the cellar.  
“What´s in there?” I asked, already walking towards it. Rich quickly grabbed my arm and pulled me to sit on the box.  
“Talking first,” he said.  
I frowned at him, I always hated when somebody tried to manhandle me like this.  
“Okay,” I hissed. He looked at me apologetically.  
“I really need to tell you about this first,” he sat down next to me, licking his lips nervously. “You know … James … we escaped that massacre. He knew about this place and he showed it to me but he was wounded. It was bad. I did all I could. I really did. I swear. But he died eventually. I … I knew what he meant to you. Don´t ask me how. I just know okay? And I …” I was watching his little smile as he pointed at the little door. “I brought him back. For you, Will. Just for you.”  
I didn´t move. I was petrified with confusion, afraid to ask what the hell does that mean.  
“You can go look now.” He lifted me by arm and pushed me toward the door. I looked at him with disbelief.  
“What are you talking about?”  
“Look for yourself,” he replied, sounding almost proud. But my body wasn´t moving. So he led me to the door.  
“No, Rich.” I shook my head, but he opened it anyway and shoved me inside.  
Light bluish glare illuminated the small room full of more wooden boxes. There wasn’t as much mess, just some big machines on the side of the the room. When my eyes accommodated to the blue glow, I finally saw a human figure in the midst of the machines. It was sitting, bent forward as if something was holding it up by his spine. Long dark hair hung from his bowed head. And then it moved. I jerked back and I stumbled over Rich who was standing right beside me, watching me carefully. He grabbed my shoulders and shoved me toward the machine.  
The sitting man lifted his arms in one quick motion, his head still bent down. His arms started to twitch as he was lowering them in unnatural movements.  
Then his head came up and he looked at me through his hair.  
It was James.  
I froze, my body went rigid and Rich had to stop pushing me because I would have just fallen forward.  
James’ eyes were so cold, not even blue as I knew them, but grey, dull, dead. Tthey were watching me. His chin moved and a weird metal sound came out. I was shaking. I tried to turn around but Rich wouldn’t let me, forcing me to stare at that thing while it moved. I didn’t know what was I looking at but this couldn´t be James. His torso straightened, arms fell on his knees and his face moved. Slowly his expression was formed from blank staring to a pleading look that I never saw on his face when he was alive. He looked desperate.  
“William?” He spoke and I could hear soft whirring behind his voice.  
I stumbled forward when Rich pushed me a little.  
“William.”  
I couldn´t just ignore this voice. I stepped forward, cautious. Few more steps and suddenly I was kneeling in front of James who never stopped staring at me. I couldn´t take my eyes off of him neither. His skin was pale and blue and so were his lips. His eyes were framed by gray and black and he just looked so sick. There was that quiet whirring sound again as he lifted his arm. His fingers carefully brushed my cheek and he slowly caressed with his palm down to my neck.  
“I missed you, William.” His skin was cold like a metal but yet so soft.  
“What did you do to him?” my voice sounded broken.  
“He died.” I heard from somewhere behind me. James´ eyes drifted in that direction. I suddenly felt alone without those eyes looking at me. I raised my hand and covered James´ fingers on my neck. It apparently brought his attention back to me, which was all that I wanted in that moment.  
“He died and I just couldn´t let it be that way.” Rich continued behind me. “I knew you loved him, and I just wanted you to be happy.”  
“‘I knew you loved him…’” James´ lips mimicked Richard’s words.  
I felt so sick. Everything inside me screamed at me that the thing I was touching was not James. Thats it’s just a dead body, a corpse pulled over a machine like a sleeve.  
But i just couldn´t move. I felt Richard’s eyes on the back of my head. I knew I could just run away. I knew that he would try to stop me, but I was so much stronger; he couldn´t overpower me. I could kill him. I could tear pieces of James´ body from that machine and destroy it. I knew I should do it. But I didn´t.  
James´ other hand touched my shoulder and I melted under it.  
“Why you don´t tell James the truth, Will,” I heard from behind. Richard´s voice was weirdly cold and distant.  
“I don´t know,” I whispered and let my body be manipulated by the dead hand, pulled closer to James.  
“Why?” James barely opened his mouth.  
“I’m sorry James,” tears started to gather in my eyes.  
“Why?” whirring could be heard more clearly when he was whispering.  
“Because I love you and I didn´t want this.” I gave up and my hands flew up as I hugged him tightly.  
I closed my eyes and felt his body under mine. He wasn´t breathing and he was impossibly cold. My hand absently ran down his back. Through his shirt I could feel every part of the metal machine piercing through his skin in the place where his spine should be. I couldn´t see his face but I could feel it moving. The whirring noise got stronger as his arms hugged me tighly.  
“I love you too, William.” I exhaled and I could almost ignore the buzzing behind his voice. He leaned in and dragged his chapped cold lips over my cheek.  
“Do you hear me, Will?” he whispered over my lips. “Promise me that you will never leave me.”  
His lips parted in an invitation and I knew he never stopped looking at me. His words were something I was waiting for my whole life.  
Perhaps somewhere in my mind I knew and I still know now that it’s just a cadaver I am kissing every day. And perhaps I´m still realising that there is a real world full of living human beings outside. But at that very moment when I heard those words I decided to believe that they are the only truth that mattered. Because what is dead, death can never take from me again.  
So I gave my word to a dead man. I gave him my word, my soul, my entire life. With one kiss. First of many.


End file.
